Always on top of guest satisfaction, Andrew says “the hospitality business is about making our place your place”.

e-Travel Blackboard: How long have you been in the industry?

[Laughs] Oh, 20-something years.

e-Travel Blackboard: Why did you join the travel industry?

I always had a love of travel, always had a love of food and wine and this seemed to be the best way to combine both and get paid for it.

It [travel] has its detachment in terms of lifestyle sometimes, but once you work out what the opportunities are and how to make that all work it’s fantastic.

And I love the people, I really love hotel people, restaurant people and creative people - not in the pure arts sense, just creative in the way looking after customers. It’s the way they think about providing service and the ways they innovate in business. Using what I consider a really basic formula of being nice to people and being hospitable. Sometimes we forget that we’re in the hospitality business and that it’s about making our place your place and that really impresses me. And Quest Studios has always had that feel about it.

So whilst I own two franchises, I spend five days a week in them because I spend a good amount of my time on the phone or at reception interacting with guests. That connects your with people and you make some great friendships. So what I’ve joined the industry for I’ve been able to do.

As well as grow a business and the people around me.

e-Travel Blackboard: Do you have any idols in the travel industry?  

Sounds really corny but I have a great deal of respect for Mr Constantinou, he is the chairman of Quest and some of the other Quest franchisees I work with. They just do a great job of looking after people.

Then in terms of promoting tourism Jeff Dixon at Tourism Australia and what he did at Qantas was really got people thinking about Australia as a destination. He’s a great spokesperson for the industry and at integrating the industry.

e-Travel Blackboard: What’s your favourite/funniest travel memory?

My first overseas trip when I was in Paris – this was pre-break up of the USSR and I was walking along the Champs dÉlysées and there were two really very, very large Russian soldiers. This was confronting and they were looking really serious until this young French girl walked past in a very short skirt and they both in unison turned and it was just great to see these two really brawly guys and they were just like normal blokes.

And the other is probably, New York – carriage ride, through Central Park, with my wife in the snow. I love New York.

e-Travel Blackboard: I was talking to actor, Johnathan McClain and he says New York should be the only travel destination:

[Laughs] Yeah, well I got to say New York is amazing and I’ve had some great experiences there. It’s just the people you meet and the way it’s run.

e-Travel Blackboard: What’s your favourite thing about the Bondi Junction Studios?

Its location, Bondi Junction. It’s a between the city and the beach. Bondi is this vibrant, eclectic  community and everybody knows Bondi Junction for the Westfield but there is more when you look up and down all the mixtures of ages and cultures and business activities that goes on. It’s a hidden gem.

I don’t think people realise how much it has. And the transport hub is fantastic.

e-Travel Blackboard: What destinations are still on your travel bucket list?

Sailing down the Nile.

e-Travel Blackboard: What three item do you always travel with?

A good book, well nowadays it’s more like a good iBook.

The iPad is my travel companion because it just has everything.

Good music, some classical also and communication devices.